James m



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. JAY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR -STRETCHING CARPETS.

SPECIFICATION forming* part of Letters Patent No. 226,917, dated April 27, 1880. Application ledlOctober 3, 1879.

in its contracted or shortest form when in use.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing my improvement in its extended form 5 Fig. 3, a t'ace view of the tooth-plate; Fig. 4, aside view of asection of the apparatus, showing the mechanism` whereby the sections of my apparatus are held in place, and Fig. 5 a top view of said mechanism, the same being a thumb spring-pivot.

My invention consists in the construction of a rod or bar in sections, so arranged and connected that it can be extended or short ened as desired, in combination with a platehook, the whole being easily folded up ready for carrying, or, when in use, adaptable to any length of room in which it is desired to be used.

In the drawings, A represents the bars or rods, formed in four pieces, a a a2 a3. On the end ot' the bar a is fastened the plate-hook B, which has the teeth I), which teeth engage with and hold in the carpet. The bar a is fastened to and slides on the bar c bymeans of devices shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which devices consist of a band or ribbon, c, with a thumb head or piece, d, attached to the piece c. Under said thumh-pieceis placed the spring g,which serves to press the said thumb-piece d, and with it the band c, which are formed in one piece, onto the piece or section c2, the upper side of said band resting and workin g in the notch or slot e. Thus when the thumb-piece is pressed down the lower side of band c is thrown out of contact with the rod a, allowing the rod to be moved longitudinally.l When the pressure on the thumb-piece is removed it is thrown upward by the spring g, and the lower side of the band c is made to impinge against the face of the bar a and prevent its longitudinal movement.

gaging in the carpet, and the end of the opposite bar, a3, either resting against the sideboard of the room or against a fiat piece, soit will not slip or move longitudinally. By pressure applied at D-t-he leverage-point--the end having the plate-hook and teeth is pushed out, taking with it the carpet, until the carpetis stretched the desired distance or to the nailing-line, where it, is secured by tacks. The end of the bar a3 remains unmoved. By regulating the extension of the bars a c' a? a3 t'he length may be such as to push the carpet to the nailing-point, when and at the same time the rods are all in one straight line in the same plane, and the hin ged point pressed to the tl'oor, in which case the carpet is held till secured, and thus one person alone can -stretch and nail the carpet.

Then through using the stretcher it is folded together, section on section, one over the other, first by sliding, then folding, and the whole easily carried from place to place.

W hat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A carpet-stretcher composed of the sectional rods or bars aa' a2 a, held together, as shown, and whose longitudinal motion is regulated vby the band c, having the thumb-piece dand spring g, said bars being hinged together, as shown, in combination with the hook-plate B, having teeth b, all as specified and described.

. JAMES M. JAY.

Witnesses:

THEODORE G. HOs'rER, GEO. B. MCGLELLAND. 

